TV interview of Brent Brown, head of Chesley-Brown of Atlanta, and a passenger on AirTran Flight 297.
http://www.chesleybrown.com/

He is very well spoken and answers questions that have been brought up on the Flight 297 threads
"If there is a secur He addresses the email in beginning @ 3:00 and again later. As he points out at 8:15, there is no need to embellish an already incredible story.

@4:55 -- The passengers were walking around refusing to cooperate; not staying in their seats, against FAA rules, pilot turned plane around to secure the cabin. It was extremely tense, never experienced anything like it in over 20 yrs of flying for business. Past in law enforcement and security industry, this was tension at its highest. To AirTran at ~ 8:30, when you have a security situation, have security officials deal with it. He was surprised not to have seen a single uniformed law officer. You have got to communicate to passengers.

Rumors continued to circulate Monday via e-mail and the Internet about what exactly happened on an AirTran flight at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in November.

At the time, AirTran told Channel 2 Action News that an unruly passenger on a cell phone forced the pilot to take the plane back to the gate. Monday, a passenger said the situation went well beyond that.“It was extremely intense. I’ve never experienced anything like that,” said passenger Brent Brown.

Brown runs a security consultant company and is a frequent flier. But even for him, he said the events of Flight 297 were disturbing and frightening. As the Houston-bound flight taxied to the runway, several in a group of about a dozen men of Middle Eastern descent started walking the aisles and using their cell phones, Brown said.Brown said he could tell from the flight attendants' actions that the situation was more than just a single passenger misbehaving.

"This was a big step ahead of that. You could tell that they were distressed and that they were getting very much uncooperative people in the back," said Brown. "So when the pilot turned the plane around, not only was I not surprised I was proud that he had made that effort to secure the cabin."Back at the gate, Brown said the situation did not improve. He said he was sitting toward the front and he never saw law enforcement enter the plane. He also said that no one informed passengers of what was going on.

"They weren't speaking to us. And they didn't speak to us at all for at least an hour. Our only interaction was with the crew that was already upset at the way they were obviously being handled," said Brown.Within days, the incident went viral on the Internet which prompted news coverage. Internet rumor control sites seemingly couldn’t make heads or tails of the incident. AirTran responded by posting an article that called most of the claims an "urban myth."

"And then after the fact, when (AirTran) apparently issued a statement that says, in effect, that this was a customer service issue or someone was on the phone...they're dead wrong," said Brown.The crew, including the pilots, decided not to continue with the flight.Brown said AirTran put about 10 of the 12-man group back on the plane with a new crew. Most of the original passengers chose not to re-board and instead got on a different flight.

Because of privacy laws, the airline would not identify any of the men involved in the November incident.An AirTran spokesman called the incident "isolated" and said the airline considers the case closed.

Muslims? Surely you jest! I thought it was those damned Amish again. I thought surely their names would have been Napp, Esch, Roth and Yudi.

expat-pattaya

12-10-2009, 06:56 PM

Obviously it was either a dry run (doubtful - why give it away?) or an attempt to create a lawsuit situation with the airline. Like the muslim imams on the flight that were thrown off.

I am getting a bit fed up with PC stuff when it comes to middle eastern dudes acting weird in public. If they don't like being under a microscope join the army, go to Afghanistan, and kick the hell out of the assholes who made us wary of them.

It is for these PC reasons that Hassan (aka the Fort Hood asshole) wasn't stopped. Imagine if he had been white and contacted a militia group that had killed over 3000 americans in the past. Imagine if that group commited suicide bombings. And he publicly endorsed it. He would heve been out of the Army poste haste. But we wouldn't want to look racist would we :confused:

Speedy

12-10-2009, 07:19 PM

I think the next batch of Muslims doing this shit need to be stomped to paste by a passenger revolt. That would go a long way to putting a stop to this shit. So it appears racist. So fucking what! They are acting like fucking stereotypes, let a bunch of Americans act like their fucking stereo types and beat the shit out of them.

Apache

12-11-2009, 11:17 AM

I think the next batch of Muslims doing this shit need to be stomped to paste by a passenger revolt. That would go a long way to putting a stop to this shit. So it appears racist. So fucking what! They are acting like fucking stereotypes, let a bunch of Americans act like their fucking stereo types and beat the shit out of them.

Aside from the fact that being muslim is an ideology not a race, I agree with everything you've said. :cool:

noonwitch

12-11-2009, 12:08 PM

I think the next batch of Muslims doing this shit need to be stomped to paste by a passenger revolt. That would go a long way to putting a stop to this shit. So it appears racist. So fucking what! They are acting like fucking stereotypes, let a bunch of Americans act like their fucking stereo types and beat the shit out of them.

Any group that acts like that on a plane is deserving of whatever law enforcement deems appropriate, muslim or otherwise. Profiling people by their behavior isn't racial profiling.

samurai

12-11-2009, 01:09 PM

Muslims? Surely you jest! I thought it was those damned Amish again. I thought surely their names would have been Napp, Esch, Roth and Yudi.

Rumspringeeeeeeerrr!

Speedy

12-11-2009, 02:35 PM

Any group that acts like that on a plane is deserving of whatever law enforcement deems appropriate, muslim or otherwise. Profiling people by their behavior isn't racial profiling.

You can have a bunch of white fratboys act like that, or a bunch of strippers or a bunch of blacks. No one is going to believe that everyone on that plane could die. Have a bunch of Muslims act that way and I do not blame passengers if they stomp out their guts. Hell if I was on a plane on which that happened I would happily lead the revolt.

It is not on us not to believe that Muslims don't want to kill us. They say that a few idiots have hijacked their religion, well if that is the truth, it is on them to get their loonies back in check and I will be suspicious of them until they make a proper effort.